Removing time delays in signal paths

1. A method of decoding an audio signal, comprising:

receiving, in a computer-readable medium selected from the group consisting of a non-volatile computer-readable medium, a volatile computer-readable medium, and combinations thereof, an audio signal including a downmix signal of a time domain and spatial information, the spatial information being delayed within the audio signal according to a first scheme;

converting, by a processor, the downmix signal of the time domain according to a second scheme;

delaying, by a processor, the downmix signal converted according to the second scheme by an amount of time substantially equal to a difference between an amount of delay of the spatial information within the audio signal and an elapsed time of converting the downmix signal of the time domain according to the second scheme;

combining, by a processor, the delayed downmix signal with the spatial information;

generating, by a processor, an output audio signal using the downmix signal and the spatial information, the output audio signal including at least two channel signals; and

outputting the output audio signal through an output unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first scheme comprises converting the downmix signal of the time domain to a real quadrature mirror filter domain and converting the downmix signal of the real quadrature mirror filter domain to a complex quadrature mirror filter domain, and wherein the second scheme comprises directly converting the downmix signal of the time domain to a complex quadrature mirror filter domain.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amount of time is approximately equal to an elapsed time of converting the downmix signal of the real quadrature mirror filter domain to the complex quadrature mirror filter domain.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the output audio signal generated using the downmix signal converted according to the second scheme includes improved sound quality compared to an output audio signal generated using a downmix signal converted according to the first scheme.

5. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor and having instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable medium selected from the group consisting of a non-volatile computer-readable medium, a volatile computer-readable medium, and combinations thereof, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to perform the operations of:

receiving an audio signal including a downmix signal of a time domain and spatial information, the spatial information being delayed within the audio signal according to a first scheme;

converting the downmix signal of the time domain according to a second scheme;

delaying the downmix signal converted according to the second scheme by an amount of time substantially equal to a difference between an amount of delay of the spatial information within the audio signal and an elapsed time of converting the downmix signal of the time domain according to the second scheme;

combining the delayed downmix signal with the spatial information;

generating an output audio signal using the combined downmix signal and spatial information, the output audio signal including at least two channel signals; and

outputting the output audio signal through an output unit.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the first scheme comprises converting the downmix signal of the time domain to a real quadrature mirror filter domain and converting the downmix signal of the real quadrature mirror filter domain to a complex quadrature mirror filter domain, and wherein the second scheme comprises directly converting the downmix signal of the time domain to a complex quadrature mirror filter domain.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the amount of time is approximately equal to an elapsed time of converting the downmix signal of the real quadrature mirror filter domain to the complex quadrature mirror filter domain.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the output audio signal generated using the downmix signal converted according to the second scheme includes improved sound quality compared to an output audio signal generated using a downmix signal converted according to the first scheme.

9. A system comprising:

means for receiving, in a computer-readable medium, an audio signal including a downmix signal of a time domain and spatial information the spatial information being delayed within the audio signal according to a first scheme, the computer-readable medium selected from the group consisting of a non-volatile computer-readable medium, a volatile computer-readable medium, and combinations thereof;

means for converting the downmix signal of the time domain according to a second scheme;

means for delaying the downmix signal converted according to the second scheme by an amount of time substantially equal to a difference between an amount of delay of the spatial information within the audio signal and an elapsed time of converting the downmix signal of the time domain according to the second scheme;

means for combining the delayed downmix signal with the spatial information;

means for generating an output audio signal using the downmix signal and the spatial information the output audio signal including at least two channel signals; and

means for outputting the output audio signal.